by Rose St. Andrews
Andrew stood in the large living room and heaved a sad sigh. This was his home and now he was leaving it. Dear old Joan was gone, their two oldest girls were off living their lives, and now that Susan was in college the house was too big for just him. So, he was renting it to some college students; ironically, three girls, all eighteen, and they were due there any moment. Bam!
He jumped and spun toward the door. "Ah, girls, you're here. Excellent, I didn't want to hang about too long."
Despite not having met, Andrew knew the girls. They'd emailed their pictures to him, along with all their contact info, their parents' names and addresses, and so on. He was no dummy. There was no way he was renting his house to a bunch of college students without having full data on all of them. The leader of the group was Halle Baxter, a tall leggy black girl with quite the tight little butt who was a computer geek. Next was Tori Sterling, an athletic white girl with very long blonde hair. She was there on a full scholarship and seemed at first blush to be the stereotype athlete, but she was quite smart, and wanted to be a lawyer. Based on their Skype chats, she clearly lacked focus. Finally there was Yuke Grant, a curvy petite Asian artist, pale skinned with jet black hair.
Once formal introductions were over, he showed them around the place, pausing in the three bedrooms (that had been his girls' rooms) so they could drop off their bags, and then he reviewed the house rules, all of which were outlined in the lease, but he wanted to emphasize several.
The master bedroom was off limits (he'd moved all his personal and family items he could fit into the guest cottage, which was where he would live, but the remainder was in the master bedroom. Hence, the room was locked and off limits.) No parties. A few friends during the day or early evening were okay, but that was it. Andrew wasn't a prude, but he expected the girls to at least behave responsibly. No overnight male guests.
Yuke's eyes grew wide. "Wait, are you saying men can spend the day here?"
"Yeah, and it's up to us to decide what they'll do while they're here," Halle said with a snicker.
"Oh, no, no, no," Yuke squeaked. "That's out, that is definitely out! My dad would wear out his belt on my backside if he even thought I was in the same house as a strange man. I am getting a lock for my room."
Andrew grinned. "All the bedrooms lock, Yuke. You'll find the key in the nightstand."
She heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Man, you think of everything."
"Eh, I try," he said with a shrug. "I'm curious; do you know what part of China your mother's family is from?"
She shook her head. "No, we've been in the U.S. for at least four generations. Hey, how'd you know I was Chinese?" she said and gestured at the other two. "It took me six months to get it through their thick heads that I wasn't Japanese."
"I've studied Chinese calligraphy so I've got a good knowledge of the language. Yuke is Chinese for Jade, which I find quite appropriate for you, my dear."
Her face turned bright red. "I... um, I..."
Tori giggled. "Wow, Mr. Phillips, you are one smooth talker. I bet you regularly romance the local lovelies, right?"
"No, my days of skirt-chasing ended a long time ago. Right now, I'm happy to be retired from teaching and can do what I've always wanted to do: paint. Anyway, no sense us yammering away here, I know you girls want to get settled."
"Quite right," Halle said, stepping up to the round kitchen table. "Ladies, paperwork and checks."
Andrew stood there waiting as Halle searched her huge purse, Tori tore through two bags and her computer pack, and Yuke (clearly the most efficient of the group) whipped out her signed lease and check, her portion of the first month's rent, last month's rent and security deposit. It took several more minutes, but the other two finally got their contributions and handed them over. Andrew thanked them for everything and departed. It was just a short walk across the backyard to the guest cottage, and he set about making lunch and getting his easel set up on the little patio out back. He liked that it was on the far side, away from the main house. Not only did it give them privacy, but (more importantly) he had total privacy.
Standing there before his new canvas, palette and brush in hand, he smiled and let the cool autumn breeze wash over him. Yeah, life is good. They seem like such nice girls. I'm sure everything will be fine.
However, things didn't work out that way.
It started out simple and mild, like a symphony building to its climax: loud music and slamming doors. Then the get-togethers went from a few friends after classes to a whole gang hanging out all evening, which was a clear violation of the lease. Next came the visitors at all hours. First just girls, and then girls and guys, and then two very boisterous boys. The first night they stayed over, Yuke came lightly rapping at Andrew's door asking if she could sleep on his couch.
"Yuke, your room has a lock. Wouldn't you feel safer there than defenseless in my living room? What would your father say about that?"
She smiled. "Oh, go on, Mr. Phillips; I know you're perfectly safe. You're just like my dad."
He rubbed his chin. "Huh, I guess that's a compliment. Gee, in my college days, I was considered quite the wolf, and now look at me, reduced to Mr. Safe Haven. Okay, you can stay."
Her smile went ear to ear. "Thank you!" she said, and helped to make up the sofa. "Um, Mr. Phillips, are you going to throw us out?"
"Where did that come from?" he replied, handing her a pillow.
"Well, it's just that... we've only been here two weeks, and we've already violated several clauses of the lease. I keep trying to point that out to the girls, but they don't care. Are you mad?"
"No, it's okay, for the time being. I know you girls are away from home for the first time; you're trying to find your way in the world, testing your boundaries and such, and so I'm willing to cut you some slack."
"Oh, thank you, sir!"
"You're most welcome. However, you might want to tell the others that 'some slack' will only go so far, and then it wraps about your neck to hang you high, metaphorically speaking."
Yuke swallowed hard. "Yes, sir, I'll tell them, sir, and we'll behave from now on."
Andrew smiled at her, hoping she was right, but secretly nursing the belief that it wasn't the case. He'd dealt with troublesome girls in the past, both his own and students, and thus he knew the likelihood of them straightening up and flying right was minimal. Yet he had hope. He said good night, and went off to bed.
Early in October it was clear his hopes had been dashed, and so he slowly plodded to the house and knocked early one Saturday morning.
Halle moved to the door and opened it, and cringed. "Oh, ah... hi, Mr. P, wha-what brings you to our door this fine morning?"
"I need a few words with you and the ladies," he said without emotion.
She swallowed hard. "Ah, sure, come on in," she said, gesturing for him to enter, and then she turned to call out to the others. "Ladies, our friendly neighborhood landlord has come a-calling."
Mr. P marched on into the living room and sat on the arm of the couch. It was the only place not covered by pizza boxes, backpacks or empty food and drink containers. Tori staggered in, she was still hung over from last night's bout of clubbing, and Yuke sort of hid behind her. They exchanged pleasantries, and then he pretty much laid things out for them.
"Girls, I'm sorry, but my patience is at its end. I overlooked the late parties because I hoped you'd settle down. You haven't, which is a clear violation of the lease. Then there have been the... well, I'll say 'gentlemen callers' that I've seen come in late and then run into leaving early the next day, and in the same clothes. I believe that's called the 'walk of shame', yes?"
"Um, yes, sir," Tori said softly.
"Well, I got a modern bit of idiom right," he said, a smile momentarily crossing his face. "And now we come to the biggies: the rent and the house."
Halle's back stiffened.
Tori chewed her lip. "Yeah, guess we haven't been keeping the place up, but I don't get it about the rent."
"Yeah, we gave Halle our shares," Yuke added.
Everyone turned toward her, and she truly cringed.
He looked up at her. "Halle, do you want to explain?"
To be honest, no, she didn't, but she knew that was not an option. "I... well, you see, it's like this, we've been going clubbing a lot, and buying clothes and booze-I mean groceries, and I've kind of been putting a lot of stuff on the old plastic. So, I got the bill the other day and..."
"You used our rent money to pay your credit card bill?!" Yuke snapped.
Halle raised her hands in a defensive stance. "It's okay; I'll cover it when the money from my dad comes in."
"Young lady, that is not the point," Mr. P said firmly, rising to his feet. "You need to learn to live within your means. Think for a moment. What if your dad couldn't send his usual check for some reason? What would you do?"
"Huh? He'd never do that."
Yuke rolled her eyes. "Halle, Mr. Phillips isn't saying he'd cut you off, but what if... oh, the stock market tanked or..."
"Or he just had a bad month at his business," Tori suggested. "Or for that matter, what if he was in an accident or got sick? Would you get the money? Does he have things set up as an automatic transfer?"
Halle snorted. "What, my dad? Shit, he can barely access his email on his own. Huh, but I see your point," she added, heaved a sad sigh, and turned to Mr. P. "You're right; I've acted inappropriately. I'll pay the rent the moment the money comes in, and throw in some extra to make up for this delay. Oh, and this will never happen again, I promise!"
"It's good of you to say that, and I don't doubt your sincerity; however, I don't know if it's enough. You girls have muddied the waters quite a bit, and you've only been here a month. To be honest, I don't know if I can allow you to stay."
The three of them whined and complained for the next several minutes, but Halle was finally able to get them to calm down (herself included).
"Sir, I completely understand, but don't take this out on my friends, this is my fault entirely. If anyone is to leave or be penalized for it, it should be me."
He smiled and nodded. "It's good of you to step up to the plate and admit you're wrong, and be willing to take the consequences. Halle, I'm proud of you, that's a strong sign of maturity. As for a penalty, the only thing I can think of is what I used to do with my girls, and I don't know if that's appropriate. I mean, these days, even a parent disciplining their child can get in trouble, and you are most definitely not my daughter."
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